Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Avery’s POV

I walked all over the village that day.

I couldn’t say why, for sure. My body needed to do something to keep me from staring at the wall and waiting for the worst to happen.

I was still too weak to actively train on the training grounds, my injuries too severe to use the weights or the exercise equipment. Now that I was removed from the role of Luna, I had more time than I knew what to do with.

I walked to the gardens, looked at the growing things, but there was little for me to do there.

I walked to the kitchens and lingered until the cook told me I was in the way and drove me out.

At least, I thought, the walking was some form of exercise. Somehow, though, I doubted it would be enough to transform my wolf and save me from the culling.

Dierdra’s visit had lodged in my brain like a splinter. Even when I wanted to forget about it, my mind kept poking at it. I hated that she’d managed to get under my skin, that she had been correct in some way.

I tried to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I walked up and down both sides of the main street in the village, until I started getting odd looks. Then I decided to walk up to the pack house.

That was a bad idea.

Approaching the door brought back so many memories. Of the first time I had entered this house with Gideon. Of the time he had burst in, thinking that I had been meeting with someone in secret. Of the appearance of the rogue captives, and the arrival of Dierdra…

Most of the memories were painful.

So why did I miss him so much?

If Dierdra’s words were a splinter in my mind, then Gideon was a whole–ass tree, growing out of my brain. I couldn’t ignore it, I could only work around it.

Darkness was falling. I turned away from the Pack House door and began my dreary trudge back into town. No one spoke to me, though a few pack members nodded in greeting as I passed. To them, I was the downfallen Luna, and they feared getting too close lest I drag them down with me.

Their fears were well founded, since Dierdra had a vindictive streak a mile wide.

I heard steps behind me on the sidewalk, but I didn’t bother to turn. There was no one who would speak

to me here.

Therefore I was startled when someone grabbed my elbow and spun me around. I jumped, and then winced, as the movement tugged on my healing arm.

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+25 Bonus

The person who had grabbed me hastily dropped my arm, as though they had just remembered that I was wounded.

I raised my eyes.

It was Gideon.

He stared at me with eyes dark as stormclouds.

“Did you take the pack car to Silvermoon to see Ryan?” he demanded.

No ‘hello‘. No ‘how are you healing now that my fake–mate has forced you to move out p>

Just a raw accusation.

“Hello Gideon,” I said pointedly, then turned and resumed my walk back to my new apartment, “I see you have returned p>

He followed me through the door and up the stairs. I decided to treat him the way one might a stray cat that followed you home, and put a drink and food in front of him absentmindedly.

“You didn’t answer me,” Gideon glared, though he did begin forking the meal immediately. He looked hungry, and tired, and irritated.

“ What do you want to know?” I sighed, “Did I go to Silvermoon to see Ryan? No. I did not p>

Gideon frowned, “I need to know that you are still loyal to me, and not thinking about going back to him. Someone said that you had gone back there while I was gone p>

‘ Someone‘ being Dierdra, I assumed. Of course.

“Aren’t you having me followed?” I raised an eyebrow, sliding into the chair across the table from the moody, possessive Alpha, “Besides, I can’t drive with this arm p>

Gideon blinked, as though he had forgotten that he himself had instructed his Beta to keep tabs on me. 1

“Though, ” I glanced around the room as though considering, “There isn’t anything that Ryan did to me that you haven’t also done…” I raised my fingers and counted off as I listed the ways Gideon had treated me, “ You have removed me from my home, you have forced me into marriage, you have slept with someone who isn’t your wife, you have used me, and given me no love or comfort in exchange, Gideon p>

He grew angry, tossing his fork onto his plate.

“ Ryan is weak,” Gideon said, offended, “Our relationship was never intended to become personal, as I believe I warned you at the beginning. That I had a mate. That this was strictly to honor tradition p>

“You think I don’t realize that? ” My eyes flashed at him, “My feelings have always been the furthest from your mind, as I am painfully aware. You don’t care in the slightest about my well–being, physically or emotionally. You only care about what I can do for you p>

I realized my voice had rose over the course of my tirade. That I had risen to my feet and was staring

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Chapter 169

down at Gideon as I spoke.

Oops.

+25 Bonus

His handsome face stared up at me, stunned, eyebrows drawn. He didn’t like what I’d said, and I wondered if I should start running now, before he chose what manner of punishment was suitable in

response.

Instead, silence stretched.

Then Gideon got up and left.

No words, no violence. He just rose and walked out the door.

Why was he always doing that?

Troubled, I got dressed for sleep and climbed into bed, turning the encounter over and over in my head. It didn’t make sense. I found it hard to regret what I had said, but I couldn’t parse his sudden, silent exit.

The next day, it became more clear.

Gideon appeared at my door the next morning. He looked, if not exactly contrite, then a bit subdued as he stepped into my apartment.

I offered him coffee.

He drank it.

We sat in silence.

Then he left.

The next day, the same thing happened. And the day after that. I was becoming somewhat bemused by our strange new tradition. Why did he keep stopping by?

It didn’t matter. Technically nothing between us had changed. In my mind, the only path forward remained divorce. Until he was willing to remove Dierdra from his life, his implacable presence, while

somewhat pleasant, was not going to sway me.

Finally, he spoke.

“I have news about your mother,” he said.

My eyes widened. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“ What news? ” I breathed, dreading the worst. Had the Rogue King been angry at failing to capture me

and harmed her?

“ She is being held in a dungeon by the Rogue King. We have pinpointed where. ”

So, she was still alive. My heart rose, and then sank again.

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I had no means of rescuing her.

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